Glass Cannon
by No Name Bard
Summary: Sword Art Online. What once was looked upon as a potential paradise is turned into a nightmare, where one can't leave, and death to the immaterial body was death to the mortal life. In this game turned deadly, an American teen makes his way forward...


_Labyrinth, Floor 74  
Floor Twenty  
Tuesday, October 15, 2024  
1649 Hours_

 ** _GC_**

 _"What will your build be for the main release?"_

I don't know why, but that memory rose to the surface of my mind as I walked through the halls of the Labyrinth, searching for the boss room. In my memory, my dad and I were headed to the airport so we could fly to Japan and play SAO when it would be released. As I was reminiscing, though, I failed to pay attention to my surroundings, and bumped into a monster. It turned and hissed at me, drawing its blade. Berating myself for letting my guard down, I drew a pair of throwing knives and leapt back a ways.

 _"My primary source of damage will be throwing knives. I'll stay back a ways, and use my high agility to keep myself from getting hit."_

Spinning about, I flung my knives at the monster. It reared it head and let out a loud scream, swinging its blade in a wide arc. I leapt over the sword, then rolled under its backhand swing, drawing a new pair of knives. As I popped to my feet, I jabbed its back, eliciting another screech.

 _"Wouldn't it be rather squishy? You weren't great at dodging. At least, you weren't at first."_

 _"Nobody was. Besides, I have a couple things in mind for defense. A short sword for deflecting attacks, for instance."_

When I regained my feet, I was surprised to see that my foe moved faster than I expected it to. Instead of reeling from my stab, it was next to me, going for another sideways swing. I brought my left arm up, letting the blade skate off the corresponding bracer as I launched the knife in my right hand and proceeded to draw the short sword on my back. My opponent growled, bringing its blade back in such a position that the system recognized it as a sword skill. Each of its strikes, enhanced as they were by Cardinal, failed to deal major damage to me, as I used my sword and bracers to block or parry each hit.

 _"As sound as that is, you can only carry so many knives, and chakrams deal nowhere near as much damage. What, then, do you propose to do when you run out of knives?"_

 _"That would be the other reason why I'll have a sword. Also, I intend to pick up the Martial Arts skill once someone finds it. I might even pick up the Dagger skill eventually, as well."_

I bounced back and flung my knife at the enemy. It struck home, the enemy screeching as the blade embedded itself in its skin. I reached into my pouch to draw to another knife, only to find it was empty. A swift check of my pockets and sheaths told me that I was out of knives that were at the ready. _You imbecile! You forgot to reload after the last fight AGAIN_! As I kept cursing myself, I rushed forward and knocked my foe's blade aside. It reeled, and before it could make another attack, I leapt up and used a Martial Arts skill to slam the bottom of my boot on top of one of the knives I had hit with. The blade shattered, but the strike's damage was increased. I landed, rolled away and popped up, a sword skill ready to go. The system took control of my body, making me swing my blade according to the skill I had selected by simply standing in the correct pose. My opponent screeched once more, before freezing and shattering into so many blue polygons.

Before I could do anything, though, something in the back of my mind screamed at me to watch out. My left hand immediately snatched my dagger off of its sheath on my lower back as I spun about and blocked the strike from a similar foe that had appeared recently. Cursing, I smashed its chest with a kick, forcing it to double over. My dagger descended and slammed into the top of its skull, soon followed by my shortsword biting into its neck. These two strikes, since they hit critical locations, were more than enough to kill the ambusher, turning it into another cloud of polygons.

 _"So, what you're saying is that you want to be a ninja."_

I straightened and sheathed both of my blades. Then, I immediately swiped open my menu and refilled all of my sheaths and pouches with the appropriate items. Sighing, I turned another corner, and stood face to face with four more of the same enemy. "You've _got_ to be _shitting_ me…" I muttered as I drew more throwing knives. Leaping back, I proceeded to assault this new group as I wished for better days.

 _"I'd prefer the term 'glass cannon,' but ninja might work, too."_

* * *

 _Narita Airport, Tokyo_  
 _Customs_  
 _Friday, November 4, 2022_  
 _1657 Hours_

 ** _GC_**

"Where is it... " I muttered as I impatiently tapped my foot against the floor. Somewhere, in the mass of other suit cases, was my own. Distinguishing my blue and red suitcase from the others wouldn't be too hard. However, I'd been waiting for it to show up for the past ten minutes. Even for almost a hundred people, it shouldn't take that long for my own suitcase to show up. My dad's was resting against my leg, waiting for his return from the bathroom. Sighing, I scanned the carousel again. Black, black, red, dark blue, Hello Kitty…

"Find it yet?"

Turning, I saw my dad strolling up to me. Well over six feet, he was fairly easy to pick out of the crowd. Wearing a plain white shirt, blue jeans and work boots, he looked as if he was going to start working a labor job. His balding head, however, served to remind people that he was getting old, his youth disappearing with his dark hair. Fortunately, though, it wasn't labor work we were here for. Something much more entertaining.

"No…" I grumbled. "You'd think it would be easier to pick out among all this crap…"

"It's right there." He pointed out, slapping me on the back of my head in the fashion my mom called the "Gibbs-slap." My dad's name wasn't Gibbs, though, and I was struggling to remember why it was called such. Might've been some crime show. "Now, quit your moaning and go get your suitcase, before someone steals your gear."

Muttering at myself, I walked up and pulled my suitcase off the carousel. It'd been stuffed in between a pair of large bags, thus cutting it off my sight. Boy, do I need to be more observant. Zipping it open some, I felt around in it and sighed when my hand brushed the plastic casing of my precious cargo. Closing it once more, I turned to face my grinning father. "Ready?" I asked.

"Let's go, then." We turned and left the airport, rented a vehicle, and made our way through the city streets of Tokyo. Various signs flashed all about, half of which I could translate, some I could guess at the meaning, and others I simply couldn't make heads or tails of. Most prominent, though, were the ads flashing about the very reason we were here.

 _Sword Art Online._

Ever since the beta that lasted all August ended- I may or may not have missed the first few days of school because of it- I eagerly counted down the days until the day it would go online. I hadn't waited this eagerly for _anything_ in my life. Except StarCraft III. And maybe Battlefield One, when I was eleven. But this was different- a game in which one could control his or her avatar _as if it was their own body?!_ The NerveGear essentially knocked out the user, putting one into a comatose state. And, in game, the player could move any way they liked, and the real life body wouldn't even twitch. Of course, that wasn't the only thing it was capable of- it could also easily replicate the five senses. But, details… I was just excited that I was going back to the greatest game I've ever beta tested. And to think I somehow convinced my parents to give me _an entire week_ off school so I can play the newest sensation. If it weren't for the fact that only Japan had active servers, I'd likely be in school by now.

Before long, we pulled up to a hotel near the city limits. I pulled our suitcases out of our rental, and we made our way towards the front doors of the hotel. Upon entering, I immediately spotted the owner of the hotel behind his desk, completely focused on his computer screen. [Hello, how may I help you?] He asked in Japanese as he looked up. Upon seeing his visitors, his face split into a wide grin and switched to speaking English. "Well, well, Talisman! Welcome back!"

"Howdy." My dad replied, smiling. If I remember right, they knew each other from their days in the Air Force. "Same deal as last time?"

"Yup." My dad gave him a few bills, and his friend reached under the desk and fished out a key card, tossing it across the counter. "Same room as last time. Niero's across the hall from you, as well. Once you're settled in, let's grab something to eat. I found this place called the Dicey Café a couple weeks back…"

* * *

 _Field, Floor One_  
 _Road between Town of Beginnings and Horunka_  
 _Sunday, November 6, 2022_  
 _1850 Hours_

 ** _GC_**

 _What the fuck is THIS bullshit?! How did nobody know of this in the beta? How did I not find anything in its code?!_

About an hour and twenty minutes ago, every single player had been force teleported to the plaza in front of the Black Iron Palace. That was when we learned that every single one of us were playing with not just our non-material bodies, but our mortal lives.

"When your hit points dwindle down to zero, your avatar will be permanently deleted… And the NerveGear will destroy your brain," Kayaba had told us.

 _"'This is a game, but it's not something you play.'_ Way to put a spin on your line for the game, you nutcase, _"_ I growled to myself, remembering one of his quotes for the game. _Hell of a welcome to the world, as well..._

Unfortunately, when we all had been teleported to the plaza, my dad and I were separated- we had split to do several different quests, and planned to get back together at about seven to log out for food. Fortunately, I already knew where he would be going next- Horunka, to get the Anneal Blade for his sword-and-shield style. Plus, it'd be much easier to spot him- instead of the slightly busty redhead he played the beta as, he will look exactly the same as he does in real life. Not just him; Kayaba had left us all with a 'gift'- a simple hand mirror. The mirror didn't do anything life-threatening, just reflected our shocked faces when we realized that the mirror had reverted us back to our real-world appearances. My appearance, thankfully, hadn't changed much from my beta avatar; I was still shy of six feet with my dirty blonde hair and green-gray eyes, though I lost some of the muscle I had added to my avatar. In addition, we all kept our avatar's names- in my case, I was still known as Mytnol.

I continued down the path at a sprint, seeking to reach my destination sooner, so I might rejoin my dad soon. My target wasn't Horunka, however; My first stop was a rare mob that hung out a ways off of the path. And to get what I wanted, I had to defeat it alone. Which meant that I would be in more danger right now, but the reward would be well worth the risk- a pair of gloves, light but highly durable for this floor. In addition, they provided a small damage bonus for thrown weapons- something that catered to my needs very well. Needless to say, I was going to need every advantage I could get.

Slowing to a stop, I looked about swiftly for any mobs that might be nearby. The road was oddly devoid of foes, due to some reason or other. Whether it was Kayaba being 'nice', another player rushing down this road earlier or changes since the beta, it helped, as I could take a look at my map without having to worry too much about enemies. Judging that I was close to where I needed to be, I ran right, off the path and towards where a large, old tree was supposedly going to be.

After about five minutes of running, I saw the tree. Another five minutes brought me to the underbrush surrounding the tree, and facing a small hole in the base of the tree. In the opening, I saw a hedgehog, its fur and quills giving off a bluish tint. As I focused my attention on the mob, I saw a nameplate appear over its head, along with a blood red cursor. To my surprise, I didn't see the words "Blue Hedgehog," as it was called in the beta. Rather, it had a name.

 _Cinos the Hedgehog._

So, it's a boss now? This will definitely be interesting. So, since it is a boss, that means its stats were more than likely a step above what it used to have as a rare mob. Not much, but enough to be noticeable. If I'm lucky, though, its routine should mostly be the same- It would mainly use a bite attack until it lost enough health (namely, yellow) from its single health bar, then proceed to try to shoot nearby players with its quills in addition to biting. Why they included that feature- It was porcupines that was rumored to shoot its quills, and even then that was proven false years ago- I don't know, but it was more detrimental to a party as opposed to one or two people. As for plan of attack; stay in its face, and use my throwing knives at a distance. My agility was high enough, I should more than likely stay away from its snout but stay in its face. Patting myself to be sure all my pouches were filled with the cheap starting knives, I stepped forward and flung a knife at Cinos, aggravating it and prompting it to charge me at a slow pace.

The boss provided no major difficulty, as I whittled its health down. I was kiting it at first, but when its health went yellow, I was forced to stay in front of Cinos as it tried to bombard me with its quills. By the time I had nearly brought it to red health, I hadn't suffered a single point of damage. Anticipating some change in its patterns, I took a swift moment to restock a couple of my pouches, and then threw another knife, catching it in its cheek and turning its heath red. I leapt back, waiting for its next move. Cinos, however, didn't wait at all.

In a flash, it was in the center of the clearing, its side facing me and blasting quills at me at a rate that would impress an SMG.

 _Fuck me, that was FAST!_ I was forced to dash to my fullest capability to try and get to where the quills wouldn't strike me. Unfortunately, Cinos tracked me without fail, forcing me to either go full evasive or become a pincushion. Snarling, I drew several knives and launched them at the boss. At the speed it was firing, it was more than likely that _some_ of those knives had to have struck their target. And I was right- I saw the boss' single health bar drop some, as a result of my strikes. That was all and well, but I still needed to dodge the insane number of quills headed my way. As that thought ran through my head, a quill stuck itself in my arm. With a grunt, I swiftly jerked the projectile out of my arm and downed a potion.

Sprinting- I'm definitely going to need to pick up the Sprinting skill at some point- I stayed ahead of the barrage Cinos was firing, while throwing my own weapons. Sometimes, my foe dashed to another area of the clearing, forcing me to change directions and take a couple of hits if I didn't want to become a wall hang. Eventually, however, I had managed to deplete Cinos' health. As its body shattered into so many polygons, I dropped to the ground, ignoring the window and lights popping up to inform me that I had leveled up. When the screen with the L.A. bonus popped up I tiredly tapped on the gloves presented, to check to see if it was the same. After staring at it for a bit, I bolted upright and reread the item's stats.

It was the Quill-Thrower's Gloves, all right; however, the damage bonus for the item was increased drastically. Instead of the ten percent increased crit rate for thrown weapons, it announced that it gave _fifty_ percent more. I then read the line underneath it; _-100 Health_. Definitely a considering point. I swiftly looted the hole in the bottom of the tree trunk, and made my way back to the path.

A major increase to my primary weapon, with a max health reduction of 100. At my lowly level of three, I had two hundred and sixty-five health. Losing a third of my health, under the circumstances, is something I ought to avoid at all costs. However… My little knives, as they were at the moment, dealt twenty five points of damage. With these gloves equipped, a successful critical hit would severely injure _anything_ , if I hit enemies in the proper spot. In short, these gloves would be best used with either bloody high agility or at least an off-tank for a party member- both of which I already planned on. With this in mind, I left my gloves in my inventory and stepped onto the road, where I turned and bumped into another player.

"Sorry," I started, then took another look. "Oh, hey, Dad. I got the gloves, and-"

"You're going back to town."

"... Dad?"

My father- Phönix in this world- kept a certain look of his leveled at me. This won't be easy.

"You heard me. You're going back to town and staying put. I don't want you getting killed."

"Dad, this isn't the real world. I can handle myself as well as you can in this-"

" _Shut up and listen, John_. Two of the best guys I know died in the Ruined Tower, since there were more enemies in there than there were in the beta. And knowing you and your obliviousness, I don't want you out in the field where you can get killed. So you're staying back, out of the way."

"... So, you're saying you don't trust me."

"No, I... Gah. What I mean is that I want you out of harm's way, where you can't get hurt." My dad stepped forward and set a hand down on my shoulder. "The game has definitely changed since the beta, and I'm almost positive that that's what's going to kill a lot of the beta testers."

"I get that, but I just beat-"

"Son, this isn't safe anymore. You're going to the Town of Beginnings, and it will either be by your own legs or slung across my shoulders and tied up. Take your pick."

"... Yes, sir."

The walk to town was filled with silence, and any NPC obstructions in our path was swiftly eliminated by several strikes on my dad's part and absolutely zero coming from me. Which, unfortunately, gave me more time to worry about my dad's lack of faith in me. When we reached the gates of town, my dad ruffled my hair. "Don't fret, kid. we'll be out of this mess within a year, I know it."

Somehow, I doubted that.

* * *

 _ **11/30/16  
3,443 words  
Level: 3  
Skills: One-handed Sword, Throwing Knives**_

 **Welcome, reader! Before I proceed, I guess I ought to tell you that this is my first fan fiction that I've decided to publish. Any and all reviews (Though I'd prefer less flame than anything else) are welcomed, especially if you are quite experienced in writing these stories. Glass Cannon has been in the making for several months, I just never got motivated enough to write it down on anything. What changed, you might ask? I honestly don't know.**

 **A couple things I think I should explain...**

 **This story _will_ follow cannon. At least, as far as story goes. Because I'm sure Kawahara doesn't want to make my guy canon.**

 **Kirito and Asuna; _Yes_ , you will see them. Just not so soon.**

 **The main character; "My" name is Mytnol, pronounced "MITT-null." Why the name? I put sounds together, and pick something I like. End of story. He is loosely based off me, as far as descriptions go.**

 **The location and such before each section; The format, if you need explanation for some reason, will be the following:**

 _ **General location, Even broader location  
Specific Location  
Date  
Time**_

 **Not totally necessary** **, but I** **like doing it. (Yes, ha, ha, laugh it up.)  
**

 **Different spoken languages; At the beginning, if necessary, I will throw in what language will be the prominent language and secondary language, with the secondary language translated into brackets ( [] ). Why? At this point, Mytnol only speaks broken Japanese, as he lives in America, not Japan. He only knows some Japanese due to the beta. He could actually speak it to some proficiency before the beta ended.  
**

 **I intend to keep track of Mytnol's level and skills down here. Again, not necessary, but I want to.  
**

 **I do believe that's everything I need to tell about. And- Say it with me-**

 **SAO is owned by A-1 pictures, Aniplex USA and Reki Kawahara. Please support the official release. (Insert joke about crying self to sleep)**

* * *

 _ **12/3/16**_

 **Moved a couple little things around, and changed the bonus from the Quill-Thrower's Gloves from a damage increase to increased critical rate. Mostly because, looking back now, maybe the damage increase was a little much...**


End file.
